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Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder

Group Director, Economic Law & Policy

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, LL.M, is a senior international lawyer and heads the Economic Law & Policy programme of the International Institute on Sustainable Development (IISD).

In this role, she works with developing country governments across Africa, Asia and Latin America in relation to bilateral and regional investment treaty negotiations, investor-state contracts (with a particular focus on mining and agriculture), model investment treaties and foreign investment laws.

Nathalie has extensive legal, policy, and training experience in the area of international trade, investment, sustainable development, human rights, international environmental law and arbitration.

She previously worked as an attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington and Geneva, where she also managed the office. Earlier, she was a fellow at the International Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown University Law Center and worked in Hanoi, Vietnam, for a legal reform project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and for the Australian law firm Phillips Fox. In Switzerland Nathalie is admitted to the Bar of Basel and has worked for the Justice Department, Berne, in the Section for International Law.

USMCA Curbs How Much Investors Can Sue Countries—Sort ofThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) put the famous investor–state dispute settlement mechanism on the map. Now its rebirth as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) is taking it off again—at least between the United States and Canada.

A Progressive Investment Agenda for Canada: Going beyond nice wordsThe Government of Canada has made the notion of a “progressive and inclusive” trade and investment agenda the linchpin of its trade policy development—but the government will have to go beyond nice words to ensure that investment policy can achieve sustainable development.

When Climate Leaders Protect Dirty InvestmentsIn 2016, global spending on oil and gas projects was more than double the total spent on renewables. That imbalance can be addressed only by restructuring the mechanisms, particularly existing trade treaties, that govern how energy investments are made and managed.

Farmland Investments Are Finding their Way to International ArbitrationA claim registered by a Swedish investor against the Tanzanian government for revoking a land title amid concerns over the impact on local communities and a wildlife sanctuary is the first known investor-state dispute against a government linked to the so-called “land grab” phenomenon, which arose out of the 2008 food crisis.

A Sliver of Light in a Controversial Nuclear Power ArbitrationA phase-out of nuclear power has triggered a controversial legal dispute with Vattenfall, a Swedish state-owned energy company, which operated and owned two nuclear reactors. The legal proceedings have so far been highly secrete, but that is changing with a decision to open up the hearings to the public.

Investment Contracts for Agriculture: Maximizing gains and minimizing risksThis joint IISD, World Bank and UNCTAD discussion paper marries two substantial bodies of research to show how investment contracts can be set up to promote sustainable development. It presents the top five positive outcomes and the five downsides from private sector investments in large-scale agricultural projects.